Esperanza Cortes

Artist Statement

As a Colombian-born multidisciplinary artist, my passion for the mosaic of the Americas, its folk art traditions, rituals, music, dance and their ever-evolving changes is at the core of my sculptures, paintings, installations, site-specific projects, videos and interventions. I utilize a wide variety of materials and artistic methods combined with reworked found objects impregnated with cultural symbols that act as sites of memory within the evolving context of Latin America. My handcrafted artworks create an intimate repository for individual and collective memory and implement the body as a symbol and expression of nature, vulnerability and power.

As a former Afro Latin dancer and teacher, physicality informs my practice through body memory. My practice seeks to underscore sacred space and the patterns of dance and music, using fragments of histories as departure points to investigate and build the structure and space of the installations.

My multidisciplinary work explores the extent to which a consciousness, both national and personal, is defined by the opposing force of transcultural experience. My works are organic and improvisational constructions, infused with hope (Esperanza) and renewal, that create frameworks for collaborative dialogues as expressions of community truths and histories. My artworks are poetically and intricately crafted to encourage the viewer to reconsider social and historical narratives, particularly those concerning Colonialism and raise critical questions about the politics of erasure and exclusion.